obama's for 250,000. republicans are for something higher. but i do think there's a lot of prospects for a deal. but it will be like getting close to the deadline on new year's believe. >> that sound about right. susan, though, no matter what happens here, no matter what deal comes out republicans are going to be able to help but come out looking bad at the end of this, are they not? >> i think everyone will stumble off the fiscal cliff if you will. we're going to have a patch. and yes, the republicans right now are not looking as good as they would hope to especially after the election. >> that's putting it lightly. >> it's a nice saturday afternoon. there's no reason -- but fact is that they do have one more card to hold. and that's the debt ceiling debate. and that's something where they could really be strong on spending cuts. if they have to give in and come up with this patch, everyone is going want this debt ceiling done before the president's state-of-the-union or hopefully before his inaugural speech. so the president's looking long